Peak Carbon Emissions in China: Status, Key Factors and Countermeasures—A Literature Review

Abstract

China is continually increasing its efforts to reduce carbon emissions due to dual pressure domestically and internationally. Specifically, China has committed to achieving peak carbon emissions no later than 2030. As an international goal, carbon emission peak in China has generated considerable research interest. However, most scholars only focus on a partial aspect of peak carbon emissions. Through a review of literature from numerous sources, this paper provides a more systematic analysis than previously available of how China can reach its peak carbon emissions as early as possible. This study first elaborates the status of peak carbon emissions in China from regional and sectoral perspectives and summarizes the various predictions. Then, five main driving factors of carbon emission peak in China are investigated, i.e., economic development, urbanization, energy-related issues, foreign direct investment and technology, and transportation. Corresponding to these five factors, some specific and practical recommendations are proposed. Furthermore, regional differences and spatial "spillovers" must be taken into account, thereby achieving a "win-win" solution with respect to the integration of emission mitigation and economic development, as well as reaching the desired target of peak carbon emissions.

Renewable Energy in the Sustainable Development of Electrical Power Sector: A Review

“…Developing countries now use much of their own energy at home-an impressive economic and social development process that has lifted entire populations from poverty to prosperity. On the other hand, developed countries have increased local consumption, a key component of their economic growth, and helped them to make better use of this energy to promote their own consumption and increased consumption [69,70].…”

Sustainable Ventilation Strategies for a Medium-Sized Space with Regional Effect

“…In China, the Fourteenth Five-Year Plan for national economic and social development focuses on improving building energy efficiency standards, proactively controlling carbon emissions, and strengthening energy consumption management in high energy consumption industries to achieve peak carbon emissions targets as soon as possible [4][5][6]. China pledged to reduce carbon intensity by 60-65% compared with its 2005 level [7], as well as to increase non-fossil energy to approximately 20% of primary energy consumption [8] and to achieve peak carbon emissions reduction in 2030 [9]. The current energy policy for Hong Kong's Built Environment 2015-2025+ [10] is implementing for Hong Kong's buildings to reduce the peaking of greenhouse gas emission by an earlier date.…”

Drivers of China’s Industrial Carbon Emissions: Evidence from Joint PDA and LMDI Approaches

“…Due to its simple structure, easy-to-understand principles, and low data requirements [15], the IDA method has been widely applied by Chinese and international scholars to analyze the driving factors of energy consumption or carbon emissions from multiple dimensions and industries [12,16]. For example, Zhu et al [17] employed the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI, a type of IDA) and extended the Kaya [18] identity equation to examine the contribution of population size, economic output scale, industrial structure, energy mix, and energy efficiency to carbon emissions in China during 1980–2007.…”

“…Under pressure to reduce carbon emissions, China must shoulder its share of responsibility as one of the world’s leading economic and political powers and contribute to global energy conservation, carbon emissions reduction, and low-carbon development. China pledged to reduce carbon intensity by 60–65% compared with the level in 2005 [5,6,7], increase non-fossil energy to approximately 20% of primary energy consumption [8], and achieve peak carbon emissions in 2030 [9,10,11,12,13]. However, as industrialization and urbanization gather momentum and the economy develops vigorously, China will inevitably continue to consume a large amount of fossil-based energy, and thus will continue to generate a large amount of carbon emissions.…”